Joker
by panther23
Summary: The team heads to Los Angeles to investigate a string of murders where the victims' lips were cut to form ghastly smiles. They soon realize that their UnSub is copying murders created by the most notorious comic book villain of all time and must stop them before they strike again.
1. Chapter 1

**Location:** Los Angeles, California

A studio audience applauded as they watch the talk show of host David Arts waved to all of them before sitting down into his chair.

"Well folks, tonight we have a very great show for you tonight," he said. "Let's kick things off by welcoming our special guest. She is the best-selling author of the "Cooking with love" book and is a world-renowned chef known around almost the entire world. Please welcome Miss. Greta Bacin."

At that moment, Miss. Bacin came out from behind the curtain but instead of smiling and waving to the audience, like most gusts would do, she ran out screaming with a look of sheer terror on her face.

"Everything all right?" David asked, a bit concerned for his guest.

Miss. Bacin started pointing at the curtain she came out of and could only let out a few stammering words before collapsing onto the ground.

David ran up to the unconscious woman and checked to make sure she was ok.

"She's fainted," he told his audience. "Somebody call an ambulance."

Most people took out their cell phones and dialled 9-1-1, while others just watched, believing that the whole thing was just part of the show.

David soon got curious at what she was pointing at. He went up to the curtain, torn it open, and froze dead in his tracks at what he saw. Lying on the ground backstage was the body of a man wearing a white dress shirt and blue tie. The man's throat had been slashed opened and right beside the body was a broken coffee mug covered in blood. Next to the mug was a folded piece of paper. David picked it up and unfolded it. Written in red ink, the note said:

"SO LONG AS YOU WON'T MISS IT."

David then took a closer look at the body and saw two big cuts on the sides of the lips, making it look like a ghastly smile.

 **Location** : BAU Headquarters,

Quantico, Virginia.

Dr. Spencer Reid was sitting at his desk, reading a book. He then placed his hand inside a small bag on his desk, pulled out a piece of candy corn, and popped it into his mouth. But as soon as he bit into it, a sharp pain surged through his mouth, causing him clench onto his jaw and let out a painful groan. Derek Morgan and David Rossi were walking by when they saw Reid rubbing his cheek.

"What's wrong kid? Bite your tongue," asked Morgan.

"No, it's this tooth," said Reid. "It's been hurting for almost a week. I thought it would go away, but it's just getting worse."

"Here's a crazy idea," said Rossi with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Go to the dentist."

"No! No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!" Reid said repeatedly. "I am not going anywhere near a dental office. You can't make me."

Morgan and Rossi were a bit amused at Reid's nervous act.

"Don't tell me your scared of the dentist, Reid?" asked Morgan.

"The proper name for it is Dentophobia and yes I am," said Reid. "I don't like the idea of some strange person sticking their hands into my mouth and poking at my teeth with sharp objects. It sounds like a form of medieval torture."

At that moment, Aaron Hotchner walked up to the three agents.

"Everyone to the conference room. We got a new case," he told them. He then eyed Reid rubbing his sore jaw. "You should see a dentist."

"Don't bother Hotch," said Morgan. "Our little boy genius here is a scardey cat when it comes to dentists."

"Actually, it's a well known fact that 75% of people in the United States alone are considered to have dental fear," said Reid, going through one of his trademark rants. "A study has estimated that 9% of those people are children."

"Well then I guess Jack is not one of those 9," said Hotch, refereeing to his son. "He loves the dentist."

"Really?" asked Rossi.

"Yes," said Hotch with a smile. "Well, actually he loves the dinosaur stickers he gets after his check up a bit more."

The team then headed into the conference room, where JJ, who was already sitting at her seat at the table, greeted them. Kate was not there as she was still at home dealing with her pregnancy. As the team members all took their seats, Penelope Garcia entered the room and gave each of them a folder.

"Greetings my fellow crime fighters," she said. "Today, you will be heading to Los Angeles to help with a really bizarre string of murders."

Garcia then pointed a remote to the big screen TV in the room and click a button. The screen then revealed a picture of an elderly man with a baldhead and goatee.

"This is Thomas Thurston, age 57, works as a child psychiatrist," said Garcia. "He was found dead backstage at a studio during a filming of the David Art show last night. His throat had been slashed opened with a broken mug which was found next to the body as well as a note."

A photo appeared onscreen of Thomas' corpse lying on the ground of the set as well as one of a close up of his slashed throat, one of the bloody mug, and one of the note.

"Yeah, I watched that last night," said Rossi. "His guest came out screaming and fainted in front of the audience. They had to cut to commercial."

Garcia then clicked at the screen again. This time, a picture of a middle aged woman with red hair appeared onscreen. Next to it was a photo of the same woman lying dead on the floor. The next photo was of a close up of the woman's forehead, which had a gunshot wound in the middle of it.

"Two days before this, Karen Oliver, a 46-year-old ad executive was found lying dead from a gunshot wound to the head inside the maternity wing at the local hospital."

"Those poor babies," said JJ.

"And are these deaths connected somehow?" asked Hotch.

"Actually yes they are," said Garcia. "Both victims were found with large cuts on both sides of their lips."

Garcia clicked at the screen again to show two photos. Both were of the victims' faces, which showed the cuts, making them look like they were smiling.

"Talk about going out with a smile," said Morgan.

"The LAPD wants us to help catch whoever is doing this before someone else is killed," said Hotch. "Wheels up in 30."

As the teammates left the room, Reid stayed a little bit longer to look over the victims' photos again.

There was something familiar about them.


	2. Chapter 2

" _We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones."_

-Stephen King.

On the BAU jet, the team was busy looking at the folders that described the victims, hoping to find some kind of connection, but couldn't find anything.

"These seem to be just random killings," said Hotch.

"But why dump them in such random places?" asked Morgan. "One body's found in a hospital and one behind a talk show. What's the connection?"

As they were thinking, Rossi noticed a small black box sitting on Reid's lap.

"What you got there, Reid?" he asked.

"A little something from home," said Reid, patting the box. "I have a hunch about what our UnSub's murders are based on."

But before Reid could explain even more, Garcia appeared on the computer screen on the table.

"I hate to be the bearer of even more worse news but three new bodies have just been found. Each with the same trademark 'grins.'"

Three photos appeared on screen, each of three older, gruff looking males. One had a baldhead and goatee, another had a black mullet and the last one had a lip and eyebrow ring and buzz cut.

"Duncan Lang, Paul Rose and Steven Down were all found dead inside an old abandoned theatre."

Another photo appeared on the screen, this time of the three dead bodies of the men, which were lying on the ground that was covered with piles of money. Three more photos appeared and showed the faces of the victims, and as Garcia had mentioned, they had large cuts on the sides of their lips.

"What's with all the money?" asked JJ.

"That's what the police still can't figure out," said Garcia. "And that's not all. I did some digging into the other victims to find a connection and found some disturbing things."

"What is it, Garcia?" asked Hotch.

"It turns out these two victims had a few bad run-ins with the law. And we're not talking about something like petty theft or tax fraud we are talking major crimes. In 2002, Thomas Thurston was arrested for "touching "a few of his patients. But he had a good lawyer and was set free three months later. As for Karen Oliver, she was a foster parent for a while but then was accused of abusing her children in 2005. She even threw one kid down a huge flight of stairs, breaking his arm. Luckily, Miss. Oliver was found out and had her children taken away from her, but she didn't serve any jail time. I don't have any news about our three theatre victims, but I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks, baby girl," said Morgan before the screen went black.

"Judging by the victim's backgrounds, you think maybe our UnSub may be a vigilante?" asked JJ. "He might be killing these people as punishment for their past sins."

"We'll look into that as soon as we land," said Hotch. "JJ, you and Morgan investigate the theatre. Reid, you and Rossi are with me. We'll be interviewing the victim's families."

 **Location:** LAPD Headquarters.

Hotch, Reid and Rossi were greeted by Police Chief Mills, who brought them to the waiting room, where three people were sitting down, One of them was a middle -aged woman with short blonde curly hair, another was a young male with short black hair and the last one was a middle -aged man with a bald head and glasses.

"The bald man is Karen Oliver's husband, Greg, " said Mills. "The young man is Chad Down, Steven Down's younger brother. And the woman is Thomas Thurston's wife, Emily."

Each member of the team took one person into a separate room to be interviewed in. In one room, Reid talked to Chad Down.

"Are you sure it was Steven?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," said Reid. "His body was found alongside a Duncan Lang and Paul Rose."

"I knew those two would lead him into trouble," Chad said under his breath.

"I'm sorry?"

Chad took a deep breath before talking again.

"Steven had been friends with Duncan and Paul since his last year of high school. But those two were bad eggs and they soon started to rub off onto Steven. They were the ones who convinced him to get a buzz cut and get those ugly piercings. I've actually lost count of how many times my parents had to bail Steven out of jail. I actually use to look up to him. When I was a little kid, Steven was my hero. But then he started hanging out with those two punks and I didn't even recognize him."

Reid thanked Chad for his time before leaving the room. He then took out his cellphone and made a call to Garcia.

"Give me some info, sugar," she said.

"Hey Garcia," said Reid. "I need you to look up our theatre victims and see if they have any records."

"Way ahead of you," said Garcia. "Turns out our three vics spend numerous times in prison for a number of robberies. There was even one incident where they robbed a liquor store and shot and killed one customer."

Reid thanked Garcia for that info and hung up.

In another room, Hotch was talking to Greg Oliver.

"Mr. Oliver, I'm sorry about your wife," he said.

"Ex-wife," said Greg. "We divorced years ago."

Hotch then remembered the information Garcia gave the team about Karen on the plane.

"Mr. Oliver. Was Karen a foster parent?" he asked.

"Yes. But a terrible one," said Greg. "Sorry to sound so harsh, but Karen never cared for those kids. She was only in it for the money. She treated those poor kids like crap. She would beat them, talk down on them, and make them feel like that they were worthless. I remember one time this one girl we were taking care of talked back to Karen and she pointed a knife at her and threated to slice her tongue off if she did it again. Well, I couldn't take it anymore so I filed for divorce and went to the police about the abuse. I was a witness at her trial and was shocked that all she got was community service."

Greg then stopped himself when he saw Hotch looking at him with suspicious eyes.

"I know what it sounds like," he said. "I may have hated Karen for what she did, but I would never kill her. Besides, I was out of town when she was murdered. I was golfing."

He then took out a pen and paper and wrote something down before handing it to Hotch.

"That's the phone number of my caddy. He'll vouch for me."

Hotch then placed the paper in his pocket before leaving the room.

Back in the waiting room, Rossi was talking to Emily Thurston, who was dabbing her teary eyes with a tissue.

"I just can't believe someone would want to hurt Tom," she said. "He was such a kind man."

Rossi soon remembered what Garcia told him about Thomas and felt a bit uneasy about what he was about to say.

"Miss. Thurston, we have reason to believe that your husband may have molested some of his patients."

Emily was silent for a while when she heard that. She then took a deep breath before talking again.

"I knew that would come back to haunt me. Yes it's true. But that was years ago. Tom felt absolutely terrible for what he had done. After the trial, he swore that he would never touch another child again, and he kept that promise for a very long time."

Rossi soon left the room and met up with Reid, who told him about the info he received about the theatre victims. Hotch soon joined them after getting off the phone. He had talked with Greg's caddy, who told him that Greg's alibi checked out. He was golfing around the time of Karen's murder.

"So we got a pedophile, a child abuser and a group of thugs," said Rossi. "I'm starting to believe JJ's vigilante theory."

 **Location:** Abandoned theatre

JJ and Morgan entered the theatre. The first thing they noticed was a large chain dangling from one of the front doors, indicating that the UnSub had used the chain to lock up the doors so the victims couldn't escape. The theatre was filled with a few broken chairs and the floor was covered with hundreds of dollar bills.

"You think maybe they robbed a bank and this was their hideout," said JJ.

Morgan picked up one of the bills. It looked a regular dollar bill, until he flipped it over and saw that the other side was completely blank.

"They wouldn't be spending anything with this money," he said. "Our UnSub probably used this fake money as bait for our crooks so he could lure them in here and kill them."

Morgan then noticed a big black plastic tube sticking out of one of the air vents. He and JJ followed the tube to a back ally just outside the theatre where they found the end of the tube attached to a large gas tank. Morgan lifted up the tank and saw the words "Sulphur Mustard" stamped on it.

"This is mustard gas," said Morgan. "The Unsub filled the entire theatre with this stuff and left his victims to die."

The two went back inside the theatre to look for more clues. They then saw a small television on top of the stage. Morgan turned it on and on the screen was the image of a hooded man. The hood covered his eyes and nose. The only thing visible was the man's mouth, which was smeared with red lipstick. A big smile appeared on the man's face before he started talking.

"And now comes the part, where I leave you, the little people, of the burden of your pitiful and useless lives. But as my plastic surgeon always said; if you gotta go, go with a smile."

He then let lose with an insane laugh. The video the skipped forward to when he said, "If you gotta go, go with a smile," and repeated it before doing it over and over again.

"He wanted his victims to see this," said Morgan. "Wanted it to be the last thing they saw before they died."

"What kind of sicko are we dealing with here?" asked JJ and she imagined the three victims gasping for air as the room filled up with gas and they last thing they saw was a madman laughing at them.

 **Location:** LA Roll, the following morning.

A middle-aged man unlocks the front door to the roller derby to start a new day. As he enters, the whole room is completely dark. In the darkness, the man can hear a strange muffling sound.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

He quickly turned on the lights and was shocked to see a young woman in the middle of the roller rink, sitting on a chair with her hands tied behind her back, and a white cloth wrapped around her mouth.

The man quickly ran to the woman and removed the gag to reveal two large cuts on the sides of her lips.

"Help me, please," she said with tears in her eyes.

"It's okay, I'll get you out," said the man.

He then went behind the woman to untie her hands when he stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw. The ring finger on the woman's left hand had been removed, leaving nothing but a bloody stump.


	3. Chapter 3

**Location:** LA Memorial Hospital

Hotch and JJ entered the hospital and made their way to a room where Rossi was waiting for them. They peeked inside the room and saw the roller rink victim lying on a bed with both sides of her lips stitched up and her left hand wrapped in gauze.

"Her name is Rebecca Green," said Rossi. "She was found tied up at the local roller rink with her ring finger cut off."

The three then entered the room.

"Rebecca, we're with the FBI," said Hotch. "We need you to tell us what happened so we can find the person who did this to you."

Rebecca was silent for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and started to talk.

"I was in my apartment with my boyfriend..'

 _Flashback_

Rebecca was sitting on a couch in her apartment with her boyfriend, Gary. Both of them were drinking a glass of whine. Gary then smiled, leaned forward and was about to kiss Rebecca when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" asked Rebecca as she got up to answer, but then Gary stopped her.

"I'll get it," he said as he got up and walked towards the door.

When he opened it, a young man, who had to be in his early 20s, wearing a straw sun hat and Hawaiian shirt, greeted him. But what really caught Gary's attention was the man's face, which was covered in white make up with red make up around his lips.

Before Gary could say anything, the man pulled out a small handgun and shot him in both of his kneecaps. Gary fell to the ground, screaming in pain as Rebecca looked at the whole thing in shock. The man noticed her and a sinister looking smile appeared on his face.

"Well hello, beautiful," he said as he walked towards her.

Rebecca jumped off her couch and ran towards the door, but the man quickly grabbed her and jabbed a syringe into her neck, injecting her with a white serum. Rebecca soon began to feel light headed. She staggered around a bit before she fell to the ground and passed out.

 _Present Time…_

"When I came to, I was tied up in the roller rink and felt this sharp pain in my hand," Rebecca said as she finished telling her story to the agents. "A man found me and called an ambulance."

JJ, Hotch and Rossi stared at each other and tried to make sense of what they just heard. Judging by the scars on Rebecca's face, they were dealing with the same UnSub, but why did he let her live while he murdered his other victims?

Back at the police station, Morgan had brought in the video that was playing at the theatre and was busy watching it, trying to figure out what it meant. At that moment, Reid had entered the room and saw Morgan watching the video. Something soon clicked into his mind as he saw the hooded figure say, "If you gotta go, go with a smile."

"I knew it," Reid shouted, startling Morgan.

"Geez Reid, don't scare me like that," Morgan said. "What do mean you knew?"

"No time to explain," said Reid as he was leaving the room. "Call up the others and tell them to meet me in the break room."

A few minutes later, Hotch, Morgan, JJ and Rossi were all sitting around a table in the break room, curious at what Reid was going to show them. Reid then entered the room, holding onto the large black box he had with him on the plane.

"I think I know the UnSub's motive," Reid said as he placed the box onto the table.

The others looked at the box and saw the words BAT BOX written on top of the lid. Reid then removed it the others saw what was inside. There were a number of comic books and DVDs all stacked in a row and on top of them was a rubber Batman mask.

"This was from an old Halloween costume," Reid said as he took out the mask and placed it on the table. He then tipped the box over the box and dumped all of the comics and DVDs onto the table.

"This is my personal Batman collection," he said. "I've started collecting these ever since I was a kid. I was a huge Batman fan and I think so is our UnSub."

"So you mean to say that our UnSub is basing his killings off of Batman stories," asked Morgan.

"Not just any Batman stories," said Reid. " But ones about the most popular and notorious villain of all time."

Reid then picked up one of his comics and showed it everyone. On the cover, was a creepy looking clown with green hair holding onto a smiling gold fish.

"I'm of course referring to the Joker," said Reid.

"Are you sure about this?" asked JJ.

"Pretty sure," said Reid. "When I saw the two first victims that Garcia showed us, I thought they looked familiar. But when I saw the video that Morgan got from the theatre crime scene, I knew that it was no coincidence. Each of these crimes is based off of an event that was related to the Joker."

Reid then rummaged through his collection until he found the comic he was looking for. He picked it up and showed it everyone before talking again.

"In this issue, Detective Comics #741, the Joker murders Commissioner Gordon's wife by shooting her in the head and leaving her body surrounded by the hundreds of babies that he had kidnapped."

Reid then flipped through the pages of the comics until he found the page he was looking for and showed it. It was a large panel of the Joker leaving a room where a bunch of babies were crawling over the dead body of a woman with a gunshot wound to the head.

"Karen Oliver died in the maternity ward in the hospital," Hotch realized. "It is full of babies."

Reid then picked up another comic and showed before talking again.

"In the Batgirl issue of Death of the Family, the Joker kidnaps the mother of Barbra Gordon, aka Batgirl, ties her up in a roller rink and cuts off her ring finger and gives it Batgirl as part of a sick wedding proposal. Which is exactly what happened to Rebecca Green."

Reid then showed another comic. On the cover was the Joker with a camera.

"In The Killing Joke, the Joker entered Barbra Gordon's apartment and shot her in the spine in the exact same way Rebecca described what happened to her boyfriend."

Reid put the comic down and picked up a DVD. On it was a huge Batman symbol.

"It is not just comics," he said. "I also believe that our UnSub is basing his crimes on the movies as well. In the live action Batman film from 1989, the Joker puts on a big parade in downtown Gotham and gives out free money before trying to kill everyone with a poisonous gas that was leaked out of his parade balloons. The words the UnSub said in the video at the theatre scene are the exact same words the Joker said before unleashing the gas."

"It was the perfect re-enactment," said Rossi. "The fake money on the ground, the video, the room filling up with mustard gas. This guy got it down to the very last detail."

Reid then picked up another DVD and placed it inside the DVD player in the room. He then grabbed the remote and went to the scene selection and searched until he found the scene he was looking for.

"This is the animated film, The Dark Knight Returns," he said. "Which is based off of the Frank Miller comic of the same name. In this once scene, the Joker tricks his therapist into letting him go on a talk show to prove that he has reformed. "

Reid hit PLAY on the remote and showed everyone the scene. It showed the Joker on a talk show, sitting between his therapist and the host, while sipping from a coffee mug. As the therapist was explaining that Batman was the "real sicko" the Joker lifted up his mug and asked the host "Do guests get to keep these?"

"Sure, you do whatever you want with it," the host chuckled. "We got a closet full of them."

The Joker then smashed the mug against the host's desk and used it to slash the therapist's throat. The therapist then collapsed onto the desk as the Joker just smiled and shrugged at the host before saying, "So long as you won't miss it."

"That's what was written on the note that was found next to Thomas Thurston's body," said Rossi.

As the team gathered up this information, there was only one thing for Hotch.

"Time to do the profile."


	4. Chapter 4

The B.A.U gathered up the members of the LAPD so that they could give out their profile.

"We have reason to believe that our UnSub is copying crimes seen in Batman media, mostly ones involving the Joker," said Hotch.

"So we have to look out for some guy dressed up like a deranged clown?" joked one of the cops.

"That wouldn't be too surprising," said Reid. "The UnSub might be so delusional that he probably believes he really is the Joker."

"His fixation with the Joker seems to be borderline obsessive," said Morgan. "Each murder is depicted to every last detail of the event he is re-enacting."

"You may have to preserve with caution if you see him," said Rossi. "If he really believes that he's the Joker, he might attack without warning."

After the profile, Reid felt a sharp pain in his mouth again. He let out a small yelp and started to rub his cheek.

"Tooth bothering ya?" asked Sheriff Mills, who saw Reid rubbing his cheek. "If you want, you can come with me to the dentist. I'm suppose to go there today for my annual check-up."

"No, I'm okay," said Reid. "Besides, we got a murderer to catch."

"We got this under control, Reid," said Hotch. "Go. You shouldn't suffer."

Even though Reid was a bit nervous about going to the dentist, he did not want to be in pain anymore, so he agreed to go with Mills.

 **Location:** Local dental office

Reid and Mills walked into the dental clinic where they saw a young desk clerk sitting down typing away on her computer. She looked up and smiled at the two.

"Afternoon, Sheriff," she said. "You can go right in. The dentist is all ready for you."

"Thank you," said Mills as he walked towards the dental room while Reid sat down in the waiting room.

Mills entered the room where he saw the dentist, with his back turned, washing his hands in the sink.

"Have a seat, I'll be right with you," he said.

Mills sat down in the huge dental chair, took a deep breath and tried to relax.

"No offense, but I'm not too fond of these daily check-ups," he told the dentist. "They are so pointless. I take good care of my t.."

But before Mills could finish, an orange extension cord wrapped itself around his chest, pinning him to the chair. He then looked up and saw the dentist tying a knot in the cord to make sure he wouldn't get out. Mills then looked up at the dentist's face and saw a white coloured face with red make-up on the lips and green hair.

"Oh, come now, Sherriff," said the clown. "What is a better thing in this world than a nice, gritty smile?"

Back in the waiting room, Reid was looking over all of the magazines they had for him to read.

"Are there any magazines from this year?" he asked himself.

Just then, Reid could hear a small banging sound coming from a near by door. He got up and walked towards it. The door had the words JANITOR CLOSET on it. Reid slowly opened the door, only to see a man tied up and gagged lying on the ground. Reid quickly bent down and removed the gag so the man could talk.

"Some crazy guy dressed like a clown brought me in here and stole my dental coat," he said. "Said he had plans for my patient."

"Your patient wouldn't happen to be Sherriff Mills by any chance, would it?" asked Reid.

"Yeah," said the dentist. "How did you know?"

Reid had no time to answer. He quickly got up, drew his gun and ran to the dental room.

Back in the room, the clown quickly shut the door. As Mills was trying to struggle out of the chair, he got a good look at his attacker. There was something familiar about him.

"Hey, I know you," he said. "You're…

But before he could say anything else, the clown took a big piece of duct tape and placed it over Mills' mouth.

"Naughty, naughty," the clown said. "Move around like that and doctor won't give you a lollipop."

He then quickly walked away only to come back with one hand behind his back. He then took a look at Mills' face with disgust.

"Tsk, tsk. I don't like the looks of this at all," he said before pulling out a large power drill from behind his back. "I'm afraid everything will have to go."

He then let out a wicked chuckle as he turned on the drill and slowly moved it towards Mills' forehead.

All of a sudden, the door swung open and Reid came in pointing his gun at the clown.

"FBI! Put down your weapon," he shouted.

The clown then threw the drill at Reid, who quickly ducked out of the way, causing the drill to crash against the wall. The clown then rammed into Reid, causing him to fall to the ground, and ran off. Reid quickly got up and shot at the clown, only for it to hit a plant. He then ran after the clown, who went through the fire exit. Reid fired another shot, which shattered the glass of the door. He quickly ran outside only to discover that the clown had gotten away.

Reid then took out his phone and called his team.

"Hotch, it's Reid. The UnSub tried to attack Sherriff Mills. He is all right, but the UnSub got away. I need you come down here right now."


	5. Chapter 5

The team was back the police station along with Reid and Mills, discussing the attack.

"I take it what happened to you and Mills was another one of Joker's schemes," Morgan asked Reid.

"I'm afraid so," said Reid. "It was based off of the comic _Mad Love_ , which started off with the Joker disguising himself as a dentist so he could kill Commissioner Gordon, who went to the dentist for his daily check-up. Luckily, Batman was able to rescue him in time."

"Just like you did," said Rossi. "You're our very own Batman."

"I don't know. Judging by his size, Reid would probably be a better Robin," Morgan joked.

"Very funny," said Reid, rolling his eyes. "Let's save the jokes for later. Right now, he got to figure out the UnSub's plan and he went after Mills."

"I know him," said Mills.

The others all looked at the Sherriff.

"Could you repeat that," asked Hotch.

"I said I know him," said Mills. "When he held me captive, I recognized his voice. He's a kid I knew from my early years as a cop. He hasn't had such a good life."

"Can you remember his name," asked JJ.

Mills nodded before talking again.

"His name is Brandon. Brandon Price."

Morgan quickly took out his phone and called Garcia.

"Mistress of knowledge, at your service," she said.

"Hey, baby girl," said Morgan. "I need you to dig up some info on a Brandon Price."

"With absolute pleasure," said Garcia as she typed away on her computer. Sure enough, a picture of Brandon Price appeared on her screen. Without the make up and green hair, he looked like a normal young adult with short black hair and green eyes.

"Brandon Price, born March of 1995," Garcia said over the phone. "His mother died giving birth to him, so it was just him and his father."

Garcia then read something that made her blood run cold.

"Oh dear," she said. "You remember how I told you about that liquor store robbery that was held up by your theatre victims? Well, Brandon's father was the one they shot and killed. Young Brandon was waiting outside the parking lot and saw the whole thing from the window. He was only ten when it happened. "

As Garcia typed some more, she saw some other articles that she found quite coincidental.

"After all of that, Brandon was sent to a child therapist to deal with the trauma and that therapist just happened to be Thomas Thurston. Brandon was one of the poor boys he touched. Brandon was also taken into foster care by none other than Karen Oliver and he was one I told you about who got the broken arm when she threw him down the stairs."

"I covered those two cases," said Mills. "I remembered comforting Brandon both times, telling him that the people who hurt him would get what they deserved. I didn't say anything before because I didn't think they were connected. I just thought these were random killings."

"What about Rebecca Green," Reid asked Garcia. "How is she connected?"

"Way ahead of you," said Garcia as another article popped up on her screen. "Turns out Rebecca and Brandon were dating for a while. Three years in fact. They were even scheduled to get married, but Brandon caught her cheating on him with his best friend, Gary, the guy who got shot in the knee caps. And it was on the day before the wedding too. Poor guy."

"That's his plan," said Rossi. "He's going after all of the people who have wronged him."

"This also explains why he spawned the Joker persona," said Reid. "All of the people who hurt him are people who are suppose to protect and take care of you, but they didn't. He figures that if a hero can't help him, then maybe a villain.

"What about me?" asked Mills, "I didn't do anything to him?"

"He probably believes you lied to him," said Hotch. "You told him that the people who hurt him would get what they deserved, but Thomas Thurston got off scot free and Karen Oliver only got community service."

"Garcia, we need you to get us Brandon's current address," said Morgan.

"And here I thought you going to ask for something difficult," said Garcia. "Brandon Price is currently living in a dorm room at Los Angles State."

 **Location:** Los Angles State University.

Hotch and Morgan, along with a group of SWAT members, stood in front of the door that lead to Brandon's dorm room.

"Brandon Price? FBI! Open up!" Hotch shouted.

When he didn't get an answer, Morgan kicked the door open and they all entered. The room looked like a regular dorm room, with a bed, a desk and a TV, nothing seemed unusual. That is until Morgan opened up the closet.

"Hotch? You might want to see this," he said.

Hotch went to the closet and took a look inside. He saw that the wall was covered with pictures of the Joker. Some were pages from comic books while others were pictures of the character in movies and cartoons. Also on the wall were photos of the past victims, Thomas Thurston, Karen Oliver, Duncan Lang, Steven Down, Paul Rose and Rebecca Green, all of them with a big red smile smeared across their mouths. There was also a photo of Sheriff Mills without the smile.

"Looks like Brandon is still after Mills," said Morgan.

"Which means we have to catch him before he goes through with his plan," said Hotch.

Back at the police station, Reid and Mills were sitting in the sheriff's office. Reid noticed that Mills had a look of fear and concern on his face.

"Don't worry, my team will find Price," he said.

"I kind of feel sorry for him," said Mills. "He had such rough life and it drove him to insanity."

"That's mostly the case with all the UnSubs we deal with," said Reid.

At that moment, a cop entered the office, holding onto a package.

"Hate to interrupt, Sheriff," he said. "But this was found in front of the station and it has your name on it."

The cop handed the package to Mills, which had the words TO SHERIFF MILLS written on it. Mills opened it up and inside was a CD with the words PLAY ME RIGHT AWAY on it.

Mills then placed the CD inside the disk drive of his computer and let it play.

On the screen was a video of a terrified man with white make up smeared all over his face. His hands were tied together and he was holding onto a sheet of paper. Despite the makeup, Reid knew right away who it was. It was Chad Down, Steven Down's brother, the one Reid interviewed.

Chad was seen quivering in fear as a hand appeared on screen and slapped him in the face.

"Read what it says," came a threatening voice. "Just like we rehearsed."

"This is a massage to Sheriff Mills," Chad said, still trembling. "If you want to see me alive and well, you will come to the old parking garage on Oak Street in one hour. You and Brandon have some unfinished business to take care of. "

Just then, the camera moved away from Chad and Mills and Reid saw a close up of Brandon Price wearing his Joker make up.

"You heard it here folks," he said. "Mills must come and meet me or else Chad will be joining his brother in the afterlife. I'm a man of my word."

Brandon then let lose with an insane laugh before the screen went black.

Mills and Reid just stood in silence at what they just saw until Mills stood up and left the room with Reid following behind him.

"I'm going after him," he said.

"You can't," said Reid. "This is another Joker scheme Brandon has made up. It came from an issue of the "Death of the family" saga. The Joker kidnapped the son of his first victim and made him read a message to Batman to lure him into a trap."

"I don't care," said Mills. "Chad didn't do anything to hurt Brandon and I am not going to let him suffer."

"Fine. But I'm getting my team to come with you," said Reid as he took out his phone. "I'm not letting you do this alone."

 **Location** : Parking garage.

A group of squad cars laid in wait as Reid, Morgan and Mills entered the parking garage. There was nothing in sight until they both heard muffling noises just a few feet away. They made their way to where they heard the sound and found Chad lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and a huge piece of duck tape stuck to his mouth. Reid and Mills made their way to Chad and quickly untied him.

"Are you all right?" asked Mills. "Where's the guy who did this to you?"

"I don't know," said Chad. "He just left me here. Said that I did my duty and he didn't need me anymore."

"C'mon, buddy, let's get you home," said Morgan as he lead Chad out of the garage.

"I'm going to look around," said Mills. "Brandon might still be here."

Reid and Mills searched the entire garage and couldn't find anything. That is until they could hear a loud cackling echoing though the area. Then all of a sudden, Reid felt something hard and blunt hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground. Mills turned around to see Reid on the ground and standing above him was Brandon wearing his Joker make up and wielding a lead pipe.

Mills was about to run, but then Brandon grabbed him and jabbed a syringe into his neck, injecting him with a clear liquid. Mills began to stammer a bit before falling down and going into unconsciousness.

Brandon then bent down towards Reid and placed a small piece of paper into his pants pocket and whispered something into his ear.

"Please tell the big man I said 'Hello'"

He let out another insane laugh before grabbing Mills by the ankles and started to drag him away.


	6. Chapter 6

Just outside the parking garage, Reid was sitting inside an ambulance with an ice pack on his head. Morgan went up to him to see if he was okay. Reid could tell by the look on his face that he felt guilty about what happened.

"Reid, I am so sorry," he said. "I should have stayed with you."

"Don't blame yourself, Morgan," said Reid. "You did the right thing. You had to take Chad to safety."

Hotch then walked up to the two.

"We need to figure out where Brandon has taken Mills," he said.

That's when Reid remembered that Brandon placed something in his pocket before he left him. He placed his hand in the pocket and pulled out the item, a small folded piece of paper. Reid unfolded it and saw the words, "I VOTED FOR DEATH" written on it. Reid then quickly went up to one officer at the scene.

"Do you know if there are any abandoned warehouses in this area?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, there's one just a few blocks from here," the officer said. "It use to be a toy factory."

"What do you got, Reid?" asked Morgan.

"I think I know where Brandon is," said Reid.

The team were driving towards the old factory while Reid explained what he found out.

"Brandon is recreating one of the biggest Joker stories of all time. It was in the comic story "Death in the Family." In it, the Joker kidnaps the second Robin, Jason Todd, and takes him to an abandoned warehouse where he beats Jason with a crowbar before leaving him to die."

"How does the note Brandon leave you have to do with it?" asked Rossi.

"Before the comic even came out, the creators made up a contest where fans got to vote wither Jason lives or dies. They all voted that he died. Also what Brandon said to me before he left, 'Please tell the big man I said 'Hello,' is what the Joker said to Jason before leaving."

The team drove up to the old warehouse. It was covered in broken windows with a large faded jack-in-the-box sign. As the team exited the vehicles they tried to think of a way to get in there without Mills getting hurt.

"This won't be easy," said Hotch. "Brandon won't listen to reason. He actually believes that he's the Joker."

"Wait, that's it," said Reid as he came up with an idea.

He quickly went to one of the vans and popped open the trunk revealing his Bat Box. He then took the lid of it and removed his rubber Batman mask.

"I think I know how to talk to him," he said as he showed the mask to the others.

Inside the warehouse, Mills was lying on his side with his hands handcuffed behind his back as he eyed Brandon walking towards him, welding a large crowbar.

"Brandon, please," Mills pleaded. "You don't have to do this."

Brandon didn't say anything. He just looked down at Mills with a huge smile on his face before whacking him with in the side with the crowbar.

"Oh, that looks like it hurt," he said before whacking Mills a second time. "Oh, wait, that looked like it hurt more."

Brandon then dropped the crow bar onto the ground and pulled out a small knife from his pocket. He then bent down towards Mills and placed the blade in his mouth while using his other hand to point at the sides of his lips.

"Want to know how I got these scars?"

Just then, Brandon heard the sound of a door opening. He quickly got to his feet and moved around the room to see where it was coming from.

"Who's there?" he said. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Brandon then saw something that him stop dead in his tracks. There in the shadows, he could see an image of a man with pointy ears. Brandon was so shocked that he dropped his knife.

"It's over, Joker," the figure said in a gruff voice.

"Batman," Brandon said. "I was wondering when you were going to show."

While this was going on, Reid snuck behind Brandon and quickly un-handcuffed Mills.

"You are going to pay for your crimes," said 'Batman.' "All the people you murdered. Their families are going to get their justice."

"Oh please," said Brandon. "We all know how his work. You arrest me, I escape and then you do this whole thing all over again. It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh what the heck, I'll laugh anyway."

Brandon then let lose with a long maniacal laugh before he turned around and saw Reid and Mills trying to escape. Brandon ran towards them, but then the Batman figured pulled out a gun and shot Brandon in the leg, causing him to collapse.

As Brandon lay down in pain, clutching his leg, he looked up at the figure in shock.

"Batman doesn't use a gun," he said.

That's when the figure came out of the shadows and revealed that he was actually Hotch wearing Reid's Batman mask.

"That's because I'm not Batman," he said as he removed the mask.

Back outside, the team watched as they saw Brandon handcuffed to a stretcher and about to be hauled into an ambulance. Before he went in, Mills went up to him a look of guilt on his face.

"I'm sorry, Brandon," he said. "I know you wouldn't have been like this if I had just helped you."

"Well, maybe I am a bit batty," said Brandon. "Blame it on the bats in my belfry."

Brandon then let out another crazy laugh as the paramedics placed him in the ambulance and drove off.

Mills just looked at the ground in shame knowing full well that Brandon Price was long gone.

 _In the comic-book world, there tends to be an overblown sense of tradition. Bad habits die hard. There are ways I think the form could work more effectively if we lost the bad habits that were created before we were born._

 _-Frank Miller_

In the jet, Reid and Hotch were talking about the stand off they had with Brandon.

"I gotta say Hotch, you played a pretty good Batman," said Reid.

"Thanks. I bet Jack will be pretty surprised to hear that his dad was Batman for a day," said Hotch.

Reid then turned to see Rossi sitting beside them reading one of his comics.

"Rossi, I didn't know you were a comic reader," said Reid.

"Well, Joy's son has a huge collection of these and I took a peak at a few of them," said Rossi. "Although, I don't think he's old enough to read this one. I'm at the part where the Joker kills a bunch of boy scouts by giving them poison cotton candy."

"I'm sure glad we didn't have to do a case like that," said JJ.

"Or how about this one," Morgan said as he walked by reading anther one of Reid's comics. "In this issue, the Joker steals a baby gorilla from a zoo and trains it to become his bodyguard."

"Now that would be quite the adventure," joked Rossi.

 **Location:** Dental office

Hotch was in the waiting room with Jack for his annual check-up.

"How have been brushing right?" Hotch asked his son.

"Of course, Dad," said Jack, a little annoyed. "Believe me, I don't want a needle in my mouth."

At that moment, Hotch looked up and saw a patient leave the dental office. To his shock, it was Reid.

"I thought you hated dentists," he said.

"Well, I figured that if I can handle a guy who thinks he's an insane clown, I can handle someone poking inside my mouth," said Reid.

Jack noticed that Reid had a small dinosaur sticker on his shirt.

"You like dinosaurs too?" he asked.

"Who doesn't," said Reid as he left the room with a smile on his face.


End file.
